Bravo! Entrepreneur award
Tom Palzewicz, managing partner
Jim Palzewicz, founding partner
ActionCOACH
Elm Grove
www.actioncoachofelmgrove.com
Employees: 14
Jim Palzewicz became an entrepreneur out of necessity – an “accidental entrepreneur,” he says.
Yet after 12 years in the coaching business, he and ActionCOACH managing partner Tom Palzewicz continue to successfully serve businesses all over southeastern Wisconsin.
In 1983, two years after he graduated from college, the company for which Jim was selling went out of business and he found himself without a job. To service the company’s abandoned clients and to pay the bills, Jim founded his own computer consulting firm.
Unfortunately, according to Jim, he couldn’t find the resources to help him scale the business and was forced to walk away.
He returned to the corporate world before realizing he could do more.
In 2004, Jim and Tom discovered ActionCOACH, and realized it was just what Jim and other businesses in the Milwaukee area needed to effectively grow and scale their companies.
Together, they decided they would launch an ActionCOACH franchise in the Milwaukee area.
“There are more and more resources available for startups in this area,” Jim said. “That’s great to see, but our niche is and always has been helping existing companies grow their business. That has really been driving our growth.”
Tom joined the firm in 2005 after a successful career in the banking industry.
ActionCOACH of Elm Grove has been named ActionCOACH America’s Firm of the Year two years in a row, and was also named Global Firm of the Year in 2015, out of 1,000 ActionCOACH offices worldwide.
In 2007, Chris Carmen joined the firm as partner.
Last year, ActionCOACH served 115 clients and helped them create more than 260 jobs.
“In four years, our goal is to be serving more clients and helping them create more than 1,000 well-paying jobs per year,” Jim said.
